Thesis title: Investigating plant natural protection strategies for Lepidopteran pest control Principal Supervisor: Dr Julia Bally Associate Supervisor/s: Prof Peter Waterhouse, and Dr Samanta Bolzan de Campos Expected final thesis submission date: Before 1 July 2027 CAB Research program: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Soumitra Patekar is a first-year PhD student in the Genetics and Molecular Biology program.
Soumitra completed his Master’s (M.Sc.) in Biotechnology from Vellore Institute of Technology, India and pursued his thesis in the area of chemical ecology and plant insect interactions at Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER), Pune, India. He then worked as a project associate at the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Bangalore, India, where he studied plant biochemistry and metabolic pathway elucidation.With this, Soumitra was motivated to pursue a PhD along similar research fronts combining his previous expertise.
He joined the Waterhouse group as a PhD candidate in 2023, working on developing natural plant protection strategies for management of Lepidopteran pests. The aim of this project is to harness the diverse characteristics of the model plant N. benthamiana to enhance the plants’ defensive capabilities using molecular interventions such as the RNAi technology.